In modern motor vehicles, camera systems are already used today to monitor and/or capture the interior and/or exterior areas. Thus, for example, camera systems in the interior are used for monitoring occupants of the vehicle, for example, so as to be able to control safety systems in accordance with an occupancy of the seats and/or a current posture of the vehicle's occupants. Camera systems for the exterior are used, for example, as backup aids or also for capturing an area ahead of the motor vehicle, for example.
Such camera systems, in particular camera systems for capturing the area ahead of the motor vehicle are usefully mounted behind a vehicle window pane, for example a windshield, so as to protect particularly the sensitive sensor system of the camera systems against the extreme environmental impacts to which a motor vehicle is exposed. Another effect is that the field of vision of the camera systems may be kept clear by the windshield wiper(s) of the motor vehicle when it is raining.
In modern motor vehicles, however, windshields have on the upper edge a comparatively flat angle of pitch of approx. 60 degrees with respect to the vertical. Since a lens of the camera system for capturing the area in front of the motor vehicle must be oriented horizontally, however, there is a comparatively large distance between the lower edge of the lens and the windshield, while the upper edge of the lens is often almost flush with the windshield. This distance or gap, which increases in the downward direction, must be covered by one or multiple baffles in order to suppress extraneous light from the interior of the vehicle, which could otherwise enter the optical path of the camera system by reflection in the windshield.
The size of these baffles, however, is associated with various disadvantages. One disadvantage, for example, is the fact that such camera systems having baffles on the whole have a large volume, while only a small space of this built-up volume is actually used. In addition, the expansive baffles are also not desirable from the standpoint of design. Another disadvantage is the fact that the region of the window pane (see-through window), which must be reserved for the camera system, must be dimensioned relatively large because of the comparatively large distance between the camera lens system and the window pane, particularly if the camera is designed for a large horizontal capturing range.